Sandy Thomson, chair of Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Football Club, said the cost of the damage could run to thousands of pounds

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Vandalism to state-of-the-art changing facilities for young football players at Blairgowrie’s Piggy Lane has been described as “soul-destroying”.

Solar panels at the units, which provide changing rooms and storage for Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Football Club (BRCFC)’s numerous youth football teams and visiting teams, have been broken.

Over two dozen rocks and stones of various sizes have been thrown on to the roof of one of the containers, destroying at least five of the 14 panels that provide lighting, heating and hot water to the changing areas.

The club has informed Police Scotland and officers are said to be looking into the incident.

BRCFC has carried out an assessment and it’s understood the bill for the damage caused could be in excess of £2000.

The facilities, which cost £70,000 in total, were unveiled by BRCFC and the Scottish Football Partnership in January during an opening ceremony attended by Deputy First Minister John Swinney.

BRCFC chair, Sandy Thomson, was left disgusted by the vandalism.

He said: “These units are for the benefit of boys and girls in the whole community.

“It took years of hard work and negotiations to get them in place and we are very grateful to the Scottish Football Partnership for their belief in us and developing the facilities as a pilot project here in Blairgowrie.

“The facilities are state-of-the-art and the first of their kind in Scotland and have only been in place since January.

“It makes me so angry that just six months later this has happened.

“It doesn’t bode well for the SFP wanting to roll this out in other areas does it?”

Sandy added that the cost of the damage could run to thousands of pounds as the broken panels cannot be repaired and have to be replaced.

He said: “The teams are still training all over the holidays and we are running taster sessions for new teams as well, and we could find ourselves in the situation where there is not enough capacity in the remaining panels to provide power.

“It is very frustrating that the club and the SFP are trying to provide affordable facilities for all the youngsters in the area and now some morons have, it seems, deliberately targeted the solar panels on the changing facilities.

“Quite frankly, it’s soul-destroying. So many volunteers are giving so much of their free time for the benefit of the community and then something like this happens.

“We have no idea who did this, if it was young kids or older kids, although some of the rocks are quite large and would have required a fair throw to get them up there.”

Sandy appealed for anyone who may have seen anything suspicious to contact the police.

He added: “This could have happened any time between the end of January when the containers were first installed and when we discovered the damage last week although, for a number of reasons, I think it has probably happened within the last month or so.

“So many people use the Gamesie for so many different reasons – walking their dogs, playing with their kids, keep fit classes – and people are going up and down that lane all the time.

“Someone must have seen something or know something and we would urge anyone who may have any information to get in touch with the police or with Crimestoppers.”

If anyone has any information that may help Police Scotland in their enquiries, they are asked to the police on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.